The Musings Of An Opinionated Sod [Help Me Grow!]

Russell Davies recently … for reasons beyond me … took a photo of his favourite pair of shoes. 

Because he’s a fellow Nottingham Forest fan, I don’t want him to feel ‘alone’ in his passion so I took the liberty of taking a photo of my fave pair of ‘shoes’ as well.

OK, so they’re not strictly shoes … they’re Birkenstock sandals … but the thing is, apart from two weddings and one funeral, I haven’t worn shoes for the last 10 years. 

Oh well … that’s me.

Talking of weird things … hmmmm, that wasn’t the best link was it? … why the hell would there be an ENERGISER Battery Display at Jakarta airport?

Yes, batteries can be quite important … but a whole display??? 

I wouldn’t mind, but there was nowhere to buy the buggers – so it was almost like it a shrine to the humble battery.

I’m all for new media channels but this does seem rather bizarre.

Finally, I love the way this hotel categorises it’s Noodle dishes … ‘Starchies’.  Genius.

Though I have to say I was a teensy disappointed they didn’t label their beefburgers the ‘Heart Attacks’.

[Oh, and if you are wondering, I DO have 2 feet, even though the photo only features one!]

Sure, I’d probably hate it if I had to face it every day – but I have to say, I sort-of enjoyed it when I lived in London, New York and Sydney … because it not only let me wind down after work, but it made me feel part of a city bustling with energy. 

Don’t get me wrong, I really quite like Singapore … but the word ‘energy’ is not something I would ever associate with it.

As seen at the Singapore Airlines Check-in at Shanghai Airport.

Why on earth would someone fly cheap, plastic chairs … that you can get from any gardening centre … all the way from Shanghai to Singapore?

Suggestions gratefully received.

After I slagged off their ‘Pumpkin Latte’, look what the buggers at Starbucks have gone and done … yep, created a whole range of coffees using our Halloween-friendly food.

Mental!

So yesterday I was waiting to get on a plane and infront of me was this American schmuck shouting orders down his phone to some poor bugger at the end of the line.

There he was in his sharp suit, giving it the full ‘Billy-Big-Bollocks’ and without doubt, he was not only aware people were looking and listening at him, but – as Macca’s say – he was probably ‘lovin’ it’.

So he finally gets off the phone and looks all smug with himself when 2 seconds later, the theme tune to ‘Sex And The City’ starts blaring out and best of all, it was coming from his phone.

Class!Within a fraction of a second, this guy had gone from Gordon Gekko to Julian Clarey and he spent the whole flight doing his best to not catch anyone’s eye … which was hard for him given I spent the entire flight trying to catch his stare.

The moral of this story?  Well, there’s two.

1. Be true to yourself because you’ll be found out eventually.

2. Technology can really screw you up.

This reminds me of a mad project we did years ago [with our friend, FBI profiler Mr Britton] where we analysed the passwords people had on their ‘Video Hire Membership’ to see if it represented something of great significance to them.

Well, what was interesting was that apart from common things like people’s names [which were often their partners or their children’s] … there was also a huge amount of words that at first seemed totally random, but then took on massive relevance once we interviewed the ‘owner’ of the account.

EG …

Surf Boy was a bloke obsessed with surfing.

Jugaholic was a guy who loved porn. [his ‘video history’ also backed this up!]

Toke was a woman who loved smoking pot.                  

Pink Rules was a gay guy who was active in the Gay Pride movement.

Only Natural was a vegetarian woman [rather than being a Crowded House fan!]

Sure, we knew this information wasn’t going to be something that was going to be ‘statistically valid’ [plus it took ages to get permission from ‘customers’ to [1] find out their password and then [2] interview them – all the time not telling them what it was we were trying to find out] but there seemed to be a real theme that people’s passwords reflected something of real ’emotional importance’ to them.

Look, I could go on about how we used this info [as well as how it also reflected the individuals movie watching habits] but I’ve got loads of work to do, I’m tired and … more importantly … we have a book coming out [fingers crossed] featuring a load of case studies using our ‘FBI Research Techniques’ and my partners would absolutely kill me if after years of trial, error and expense … I went and let people read it all for free on my bloody blog.

Sorry, I feel all ‘corporate and yucky’ saying that … but as I keep having pointed out to me, if I continue to want a nice roof over my head, I’m going to have to learn that sometimes it’s in my best interests to stop giving and doing things for free – especially when it’s something I’m proud of or incredibly excited by, because then, I’m a commercially-minded persons worst nightmare, ha!